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Synopsis

The Bombay High Court on Monday issued various directions to the civic authorities and the State Government to take measures in view of the rising pollution and AQI in the City of Mumbai.

The division bench of the high court comprising Chief Justice Devendra K Upadhyaya and Justice Girish Kulkarni was hearing the suo moto Public Interest Litigation in light of the poor air condition in Mumbai.

The division bench issued the following direction to be followed by the authorities to ensure that the air quality index does not deteriorate.

• The Mumbai air pollution mitigation plan, proclaimed by the BMC in March 2023, must be diligently implemented by all parties involved. To ensure compliance, it should be the personal responsibility of the Assistant Municipal Commissioner of each ward, who shall be held personally liable and accountable to the court for any lapses in the plan's execution. Similar action shall be taken in other municipal corporations in Mumbai.
• Municipal corporations throughout the city should ensure the use of metal sheets of sufficient size to prevent dust from construction sites.
• To suppress dust, municipal corporations should ensure that regular water sprinkling is performed to settle the dust by the project proponents.
• Municipal authorities should ensure that storage pipes are properly covered, treated, and cleared in accordance with the guidelines of the MCGM (Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai) and CPCB (Central Pollution Control Board).
• It must be ensured that construction debris is not transported from construction sites. Also, all construction materials, including ready-mix concrete, should be transported in covered trucks or mixing plants.
• On the next hearing date, if air quality has not significantly improved, the court may issue an order prohibiting the transportation of construction materials to and from construction sites.
• Authorities must ensure that no open burning of waste, including solid waste, is permitted, particularly at dumping sites where municipal waste is disposed of.
• The traffic department of the police, along with other relevant officers, should enforce vehicular emission norms in accordance with the provisions of the Motor Vehicle Act.
• Municipal authorities and the police administration shall enforce restrictions on the bursting of firecrackers, which should only occur between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m

During the course of the hearing, the division bench also remarked that the guidelines and action plans were only on paper but there was no progress on the ground.

“Let us agree that this is not adversarial Litigation. The State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) has to be vigilant. This is not confined to Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation(BMC) alone…all municipal corporations. Everybody has to come together. Theoretically on paper looks like everything is in place but on ground, nothing is done,” the bench said.

The bench also formed a two-member committee of members from the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) and directed the Director General of Medical and Public Health, Municipal Commissioners to submit a report to the committee on a daily basis.

During the hearing, the bench also remarked that we need to make a choice if the citizens want to live in a disease-free environment or burst firecrackers

“We have to make a choice. Either we have a disease-free environment or we burst fire crackers and celebrate the festival. The state government will have to take a call. We cannot even walk on the footpath,” the bench said.

The bench also said that we ourselves (citizens) have created this situation (bad air quality).

“We are living on earth.. dependence on nature is understandable but we have created this situation..” CJ Upadhyaya said.

Advocate General Birendra Saraf informed the bench that the major sources of pollution were infrastructure development in the city.

"Major is the construction of the private company and infrastructure development in the city which are public projects. There are construction sites. These are the main sources of dust and with weather conditions and wind speed, the dust is not going to other sources. The other source is open debris and transportation of debris. We have issued a closure notice due to factory emissions. There is a crackdown now. 31A notices are given," AG said. 

Senior Advocate Milind Sathe appearing for the BMC informed the bench that construction sites are being visited on daily basis and even the roads are being cleaned by the BMC.

"We have issued guidelines in March 2023. It's not like we have woken up now. The last guideline was 2 days before your lordship took suo moto. 1118 sites are visited and 812 sites have been served with notice. 250 km of roads are being washed on a daily basis which is dust prone zone," Sathe said

The bench will now hear the suo moto PIL on Friday.

Case title: High Court on its own motion